Newry Council passes marriage equality motion

Sinn Féin group leader on Newry & Mourne Council Councillor Mickey Ruane has said that he is delighted that the Sinn Féin motion on Marriage Equality was approved at last night’s council meeting.
Speaking after the meeting councillor Ruane said;
“One of the central themes of Republicanism is equality. We believe that the law should not discriminate against anyone regardless of their race, religion or sexuality. This is the main reason for tabling this motion tonight.”
The motion was passed with 21 votes for, 4 votes against and 1 abstention.
Ruane continued, “While I was glad to see some members of Newry Rainbow Community in attendance at the meeting it is regrettable that they had to listen to some unsavoury comments from other councillors.
“One Unionist councillor even contended that the success of this motion would signal the end of the human species and quoted scripture from the Old Testament.”
He added, “I was also pleased that 7 of the 8 SDLP councillors in attendance supported the motion, particularly considering that a member of the party’s Deryleckagh Branch had recently issued a letter to the press staunchly criticising Sinn Féin’s position and defining marriage equality as ‘a step too far’. It would seem that all but one of the author’s party colleagues on Newry Council do not agree with her assessment.”
Councillor Charlie Casey who seconded the motion added;
“Sinn Féin activists from Newry & Mourne will be standing with the LGTB community and supporting their calls for equality at the Newry Pride event on 29th September.
“My Party is also arranging an event on Wednesday 26th September entitled ‘Pride in Politics’ during which we hope to engage informally with the LGTB community locally to gain their input into Sinn Féin’s policy on equality.”

This website does not share personal information with third parties nor do we store any information about your visit other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies. You can turn off the use of cookies at anytime by changing your specific browser settings.

We are not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission. This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on 16/01/2017. If you have any questions feel free to contact Newry Times by emailing editor@newrytimes.com